RADIO NETHERLANDS, Hilversum, The Netherlands, Monday, 4
October 2004.

Dutch MP wants ban on male circumcision

A Dutch Member of Parliament, Hirsi Ali, has told a Dutch
television programme that the government should
consider making the circumcision of boys an offence.
The MP, who is often in the news for her controversial
views on integration, says circumcision can have
long-term damaging effects.

The operation, in which the foreskin of the penis is
removed, is carried out on tens of thousands of Islamic
and Jewish boys in the Netherlands each year for
religious reasons. The Dutch government recently
outlawed female circumcision.